Preview: Jim Marshall: Jazz Festival

Images from the 1960s Monterey and Newport jazz festivals will be on display in an exhibition of Jim Marshall's photography at Leica's Mayfair studio this month

Leica UK has announced a new photography exhibition, prompted by the publication of the book Jim Marshall: Jazz Festival (reviewed in the February 2017 issue of Jazz Journal).

The exhibition will take place at Leica UK’s Mayfair studio and will be open to the public from 17-28 March. The photography, which was captured on Leica M cameras at the Newport and Monterey jazz festivals throughout the 1960s, represents some of Marshall’s earliest photographic work.

Although Marshall came to be best known for his rock photography, his earliest music photos were taken in jazz clubs and at jazz festivals - including the photo of Johnny Hodges, right, taken at the 1961 Monterey Jazz Festival. All the photographs in the exhibition are taken from Jim Marshall: Jazz Festival, which chronicles Marshall’s jazz festival photography.

Marshall, born in 1936, bought his first Leica in 1959 for $50 down and 12 $24 monthly payments. Eventually, he owned 20 different Leica M bodies along with 30 or more Leica lenses and used those cameras until his death in 2010. During the rise of popular culture and counterculture in the 1960s, Marshall photographed such stars such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, Brian Jones and Johnny Cash. In a career that lasted for over 50 years Marshall shot more than 500 album covers and his photographs are in private and museum collections around the world. Posthumously, Marshall became the first and only photographer to be presented with the Recording Academy's Trustee Award, an honorary Grammy presented to individuals for non-performance contributions to the music industry.

The exhibition will be open for public viewing from 17-28 March 2017, Monday to Saturday, 10.00-18.00 at Leica Mayfair, 27 Bruton Place, London W1J 6NQ. The photographs are available for sale. For more information about the photographs and book, visit Jim Marshall Jazz.